I am watching the West Pilbara development with equal parts amusement, incredulity and horror. From The Australian:
Australia’s Aurizon revealed today that AMCI and Posco had signed up to the infrastructure agreement it has with Baosteel for the West Pilbara iron ore project in Western Australia.
…The companies are targeting first exports for 2017-2018.
…The first stage of the project involves development of a new deepwater port at Anketell and a 280km railway to support at least 40 million tonnes per annum throughput from eight mining areas.
And much more from Chinese-owned juniors. This project is a Chinese strategic play to keep the iron ore price down. It makes absolutely no economic sense for Australia, though perhaps some for WA given the royalties and construction work (gosh, a profits-based national rent tax might be helpful here). BHP and Rio must be spewing as it will arrive just in time to ensure no bounce back from their crazy plan to shakeout competition.
